REVIEW / Full Metal Furies (PC)

The beat’em up genre is one that has always been challenging yet enjoyable. From Double Dragon to Streets of Rage and even Scott Pilgrim vs The World, being able to clear out a screen full of enemies is oddly satisfying. Following in the footsteps of those amazing games comes Full Metal Furies.

In Full Metal Furies, you control two of four playable characters (yes, I did say two). With the Sniper class, you have the ability to take out ranged targets but you can’t move when you fire. This puts you at a disadvantage with quick enemies and makes you think about when you want to attempt to attack. The Tank uses a giant shield to block attacks and a dash ability to get closer to her targets. The Engineer does high damage with her pistol and has a turret that reminds me of Borderlands. However, you can’t do any melee damage. And last but not least, the Fighter uses a giant hammer that she swings around wildly. These unique play styles would make for great gameplay by itself but the kicker here is that when you play single player, you control two characters at the same time.

In combat, you are tasked with managing your own attacks and making sure you counter your opponents with the right skills. Each hero is color-coded and the enemies will have shields that match those colors. What this means for gameplay is that you will not be able to burn through levels with just one character. You are going to have to make sure you are switching between characters in order to destroy shields and deal damage. Levels are a little on the short side, and the overworld map reminds me of something out of Castle Crashers, but this adds to the charm of the game.

The story is almost standard at this point: beings are fighting over power and your characters are stuck in the middle. Go into Full Metal Furies expecting lots of jokes and wise-cracks. Enemies are over the top and it is very easy to get surrounded in this game. Placement is everything and if you are not careful you will get backed into a corner and knocked out before you know it.

The thing that ended up working for me was finding two characters that worked together – the Sniper and the Fighter – and using them to balance each other out. When using the Fighter, I would create distance between myself and my target and them switch to the Sniper in order to pick off my targets at a distance. Having to balance two different characters with two separate fighting styles in the same fight is stressful at first but becomes second nature with practice.

Throughout the game, you will collect gold that you can spend on upgrades to skills for each character. Beating bosses will allow you to get modifiers that change the way a skill works for that character. Each upgrade has funny, cheeky text that goes along with it, adding to the life of the world that the game takes place in.

In fact, my only real complaint on this game would have to be the random difficulty spikes. Since the switching system is something you have to get used to, you might find yourself dying over and over again due to punishing enemies. This is something I eventually got over until the game decided to smack me down again later on. The jarring change in difficulty made for choppy gameplay at times and took me right out of the fun the game supplies in droves.

Overall, Full Metal Furies is an amazing experience and one I can’t wait to come to systems like the Nintendo Switch. Its bite-size gameplay is perfect for a console; you can pick up and take with you. Pick up Full Metal Furies is you are into fast-paced gameplay with interesting systems and a light but slightly hilarious narrative.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

This is an indie gem that needs to be played by all

9/10

Gameplay - 9/10

9/10

Graphics - 9/10

8/10

Story - 8/10

8.7/10

Fast and Furieous

Full Metal Furies excels at addictive gameplay and a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but suffers from random difficulty spikes and a control scheme that takes a while to learn. Once you get past all the hiccups, however, you are in for an enjoyable ride that feels like something out of the golden era of beat’em ups.

About The Author

Bronsen fell in love with gaming the moment that his GameBoy Color made its first ding. Even though his love of literature came much later he eventually found a way to mix the two through several...
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